


Sisterhood

by inkycompass



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy V
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-07-18 04:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7299736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkycompass/pseuds/inkycompass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faris and Lenna put the pieces together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Apprehensions

In a cove east of Tycoon Kingdom, a ship rocked gently at anchor.

Captain Faris Scherwiz watched the light move back and forth across his cabin. It had been yellow when he came in here... yellow turned to orange, orange faded to blue, and it had finally returned as pale silver. He'd been sitting in here that long. Dithering.

Faris hated to see dithering from any man in his crew. He could never understand how someone could be that afraid to make a decision. Chances were if you hesitated you'd be forced into it anyway, so why wait? Plunge in from the start, that had always been his thinking.

Well, now he understood. And he hated it. 

It would have been one thing if this was something that made sense, but Faris had been listening to sailors' drunken yarns for as long as he could remember and he had never encountered anything so ludicrous. All right, so the princess of Tycoon had the same pendant. Faris had always known it was a rare piece of jewelry in his possession... so what? Now he knew it was a _royal_ pendant, but still so what? Fifteen years was long enough for a pirate to stumble across something like that. It didn't mean a damn thing.

There.

Yes, _there._ Don't think about the fact that he'd had it as long as he could remember, carefully hiding it from his greedy shipmates throughout his youth, and keeping it under his clothes even now that he was indisputable captain of a loyal crew. It was habit, that was all. It didn't signify anything.

The pendant didn't matter. And neither, he told himself sternly, did the princess' eyes. Faris wasn't much for remembering trivial things like that, hell, he couldn't even recall what color they were in the hobo and that old man she'd been traveling with. It was a big world with lots of strange eyes. But hers, they kept nagging at his brain. That vivid sea-green... he'd never seen it in anyone, he was sure.

No one except the person he saw in the reflection.

Faris couldn't stop it. No matter how loudly his better sense clamored at him, his hand moved to his shirt and withdrew the pendant. The princess' had dangled from a fine silver chain, but Faris had transferred his to a sturdy leather cord years ago, after the chain broke. (That signified nothing either. Any pendant like that would hang on just such a chain.) Despite being worn next to his skin every day, the silver gleamed like new: the dragon's head with its green gem. 

Fifteen years was a long time to search for a twin, and a pirate had plenty of opportunity to sift through large piles of jewelry. Once, after he'd become captain, Faris had showed it to a man from Jachol, the capital of landsman treasure-hunters. He'd studied it for a while, a singular find, but after all his examination all he could say was that it had no obvious enchantment. Faris twisted the cord between his fingers, watching the silvery light glint around the cabin.

The princess had shown it as a proof of her bona fides, to emphasize the urgency of her errand. Faris had never witnessed anything so naive. It couldn't have been worse if she'd walked onto the ship and announced she was made of gold. Oh, sure, she might think that holding her was a risk, but what pirate would fear Tycoon's retribution? They didn't even have a navy, for god's sake. Maybe they'd rope Walse into their problems, but--Faris concluded with pride--none of _their_ ships had Syldra.

On the other hand, the princess hadn't actually made any threats of that kind. She seemed to be completely obsessed with getting to the Wind Shrine.

Faris had heard of it. Somehow, Tycoon had charge of it despite being clear on the other end of the western sea. He'd never had reason to visit either place, but for some reason it always stuck in his head whenever he heard the names. He couldn't shake the feeling that it came from the time before he'd been Faris, even though he just couldn't imagine himself having ever had a connection with something aristocratic like that. But....

It wasn't as though Faris was the first foundling to be raised up by pirates. He knew he wasn't the first one who'd started as a lass, either. Only fools dwelled on the past; that wasn't the pirates' way. He had told himself that again and again over the years, stuffing the pendant down his shirt every time and pushing away the vague dreams of heights and dragons and fine cloth... he had those in plenty as a gentleman of fortune. He had weathered the difficulties of a secret adolescence, he had proven himself to not just a brave fighter but a clever one too. He'd gained the friendship of a sea dragon and the captaincy of the ship along with it.

In short, he had gained everything any pirate could ever dream of. And he was still only twenty. What was the point of wondering who he "really" was? The answer _Captain Faris Scherwiz_ was more than enough.

 _But._ Always that word-- _but_ this was no idle musing as he whiled away the dogwatches, or stood sentry alone in the foretop. That stubborn old mystery had walked right onto his ship and asked for a ride.

...Hell. It wasn't like the Wind Shrine was far. It couldn't hurt just to drop them off there, right? In fact, Faris reasoned, they could go ahead and stop at Tule on the way. His crew would like that--they had some plunder burning a hole in their pockets. Actually, with the wind gone, they would _need_ to blow off a little steam. When you looked at it that way, it was the only sensible course of action.

There. That wasn't so hard, was it? Faris slipped the pendant back over his head, tucking it carefully down his shirt.


	2. Possibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lenna sees things in a new light.

The air sat heavily over the waterlogged vessels of the Ship Graveyard, but the stuffy atmosphere offered no warmth. Lenna kept her hand over the place in her belt where she kept the shards of the wind crystal. Fragmented though they were, the feeling lent a sense of strength as the pitiful skeletons of drowned sailors dogged their steps. "Jumpin' Jehosephat, how many of them _are_ there?" Galuf grumbled. Lenna glanced back as he punched another skeleton into the water and saw Faris staring at her.

Again.

He looked away quickly. But as soon as they moved on, Lenna could feel it on the back of her neck. She resisted the urge to look back. Faris had been at it since Tule, eyes riveted on her when he thought she was engrossed picking out her new weapons or magic spells. Lenna couldn't account for it. Yes, Bartz had accused him of being a 'degenerate, lecherous, piratey pirate', but Lenna was familiar with the gaze of romantic admirers. As incessant as Faris' stares were, she didn't get that sense. He seemed almost to be searching for something.

So what could a pirate possibly be looking for in her? Of course, Lenna reflected, she still didn't understand why Faris had joined them in the first place, or why he wanted to help her find Father. The Crystal had chosen him, and she trusted it, but....

Her foot plunged through a rotted board--a hand clamped around her arm before she could cry out, pulling her back. Heart pounding, Lenna stared at the hole for a moment and looked up. "Oh--Faris, thank you...." her words trailed off in the intensity of his eyes. But he blinked and looked away, embarrassed. Bartz made a noise of concern and Galuf chided for daydreaming, but Lenna didn't really register it.

"The sooner we get out of this pit, the better. C'mon." Faris gave her a little nudge, staying behind Lenna as she stepped forward again... watching her back, Lenna realized. She turned again, and again Faris instantly found something else to look at. Though he wasn't fixated entirely on her, she saw. He was staring at the listless waves, too. Looking for Syldra. 

When they descended into a flooded hulk, Faris balked. Bartz and Galuf practically had to push him into the water--Lenna nearly laughed until she saw the strange look of terror in Faris' eye. But then, he didn't have any trouble wading and swimming, she noticed. Maybe he just didn't like the cold. It certainly set her shivering when they emerged into a space lit, thank goodness, by the reassuring flicker of a consecrated circle. Bartz immediately set to gathering whatever was flammable and dry and Galuf began peeling off his sodden garments. Lenna looked around quickly and breathed a sigh of relief to see a working door into what appeared to be a small room. Good.

She stepped into the little cabin. Whatever storm had wrecked it left it at a crazy angle, walls and floor bowed out. She felt a little proud of herself for remembering to poke into the dark corners with her sword drawn before relaxing. She was just about to take off her boots when the yelling started.

Lenna burst out of the cabin, sword in hand once more. Faris' head whipped 'round as he hastily--he--

"Oh, my stars and garters! HE'S A SHE!"

Brick-red, Faris shoved himself back into his coat. "Well--maybe I am! You got a problem with it?!"

Bartz and Galuf simply stared. "Of course not..." Lenna said. Faris' angry eyes flashed towards her. "Just, why were you trying to hide it?"

His hair fell over his face as he did up his belt. "When I was just a lad--er, lass, a pirate band took me in. I've been one of them ever since."

"Yeah, so?" Bartz said, scratching his head.

"Well, would _you_ want to be the only girl on a ship full of pirates?"

"...Ah, right. Yeah."

"Haw! I knew from the start that you were too pretty to be a man!" Lenna had to hide a grin with her hand--as weatherbeaten as Galuf's face was, it wasn't immune to a blush. Was it her, or was he looking relieved? So _that_ was why he and Bartz had been so strange at Tule's inn!

Faris rounded on the three of them. Any trace of femininity had been thoroughly hidden now. "Anyhow--make fun of me for really being a woman, and I'll shiver your timbers but good!"

"Uh... okay..."

" _That's right, it's okay!_ "

***

The sun made a harder try of breaking through the fog the next morning. Lenna fervently hoped that they would reach shore before they had to spend another evening in this place. From the quick steps of her companions, she knew they felt the same way. As soon as Bartz saw a splintered mast at a decent height above the water he scrambled up to scout the path ahead.

"I think I can see the end of this place!" He shaded his eyes and grinned. "Look, there's the cove--it's just a hop, skip, and a jump!"

"All I see is a bunch of rocks that are too far apart," Galuf said, squinting through the mist.

Faris pushed past him. "Think your old joints can't take it?" Not the usual tone of friendly banter, Lenna noted. She shook her head and made her jump, wishing he hadn't been harping on Faris as soon as they'd woken up. It would be better once they got out of this haunted place, and they could get back to finding...

_Father...._

"Come here, honey..." He reached out a hand, and the world went soft around the edges. Lenna stepped forward. She had seen him vanish from the altar of the shattered crystal, haggard, panicked. Standing before her, he looked as clean and confident as he ever did at home. His blue mantle nearly glowed. Everything began to glow. That gentle smile behind his beard... Someone spoke, maybe, indistinct and unimportant. She reached out to feel the warm touch of his hand.

There was no warm touch. There was only a calloused palm smacking her ear and Galuf roaring at the top of his lungs. Lenna's eyes opened as ordered and saw Faris on the ground beside her.

Maybe it was the way everything had gone fuzzy before--everything she saw stood out in sharp detail. The softness of Faris' unwaking features. The straightness of his nose, the shape of his chin. His sea-green eyes. Not narrow, sharply glancing, but open and oddly benign.

They focused on her and the moment evaporated. "Come on!" she was yelling, grabbing Lenna by the arm to haul her up and face the Siren, and suddenly she was he again, Captain Faris. But in that instant, a world opened.

**Author's Note:**

> (This is a redux of the fic I started three years ago. I'm starting over fresh, with a better idea of how to approach it.)


End file.
